New Jersey blues act Christopher Dean Band headed to Theodores'

Not everyone who grew up in New Jersey listened to Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi.

Christopher Dean listened to the blues.

“I like Bruce but to be honest I didn’t have a Springsteen-painted youth,” said Dean. “I felt a 100% connection with Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and was shocked and angry that I was shielded from this music through radio until the time I was 18.”

The guitarist / vocalist will lead the Christopher Dean Band up from the Garden State to play Theodores’ on Worthington Street in Springfield on Saturday.

“I used to listen to a blues program out of Columbia University in which they played nothing but traditional black artists,” said Dean. “I loved it for the simplicity of the message . . . regular guy with problems.”

By his own admission, Dean was that “regular guy with problems,” so he could identify with the music.

“I moved around a lot as a kid, got in trouble driving with no license, loved the party and drink,” he said. “Oddly enough I was done with that by the time I was 20. Then I started listening and playing blues and it calmed me down. I became a blues nerd.”

His manic youth however did have an impact on his playing style.

“I’m a classic Chicago player in the sense that I’m too emotional, manic and intense,” he said. “It is perfect for blues. The blues is just every emotion on 10, sadness, joy, anger, etc.”

Dean was playing ghetto bars in Newark and Elizabeth, NJ when his manager hooked him up with an audition for Big Jack Johnson.

“They couldn’t keep a guitar player because of the usual things, the fighting, schedule, no sleep, 300 gigs a year,” he said. “I was 23 but I felt at home somehow with Jack. So I did it for 3 years.”

The well-traveled Dean is ready to unleash a well-defined sound on the Theodores’ crowd.